Dublin Q-Validus collaborates with Scottish Qualifications Authority

Wednesday 1st April 2009

Certification solutions

Dublin-based international certification solutions provider Q-Validus is to team up with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) on two Q-Validus programmes Spreadsheet Safe and Computer Wings worldwide which have received SQA endorsement.The Spreadsheet Safe programme has been designed to assist businesses in reducing risks associated with poor spreadsheet design, while Computer Wings is a computer skills training and certification programme.

Formed in 2007, Q-Validus is based at NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre based at University College Dublin. It is already being recognised as an innovative player in the certification solutions sector.

The SQA is an executive, non-departmental public body sponsored by the Scottish Government. It is the national accreditation and awarding body in Scotland, while it also operates within the rest of the UK and globally, providing Scottish qualification expertise to clients.

David Carpenter, (right) CEO, Q-Validus, explained: “This recognition by SQA is a significant endorsement for the programmes and ensures they meet with best-practice standards, while also ensuring they map to relevant national and international qualification frameworks. This is a key element in our international strategy, and we look forward to working closely with SQA to promote the programmes globally.”

SQA CEO, Dr Janet Brown, (left) added: “We welcome these awards as they support the productive use of ICT in the global economy and they address specific issues around the use and integrity of spreadsheets – improved productivity and effective audits are real issues around the world.”

The agreement between the two organisations was facilitated by Enterprise Ireland (EI), as Q-Validus is supported by EI and is part of its high-potential start-up programme.

EI’s Scottish country manager, Christine Esson, added: “Q-Validus is great example of a company developing world-beating technology-enabling skills programmes in Ireland at the moment. Being adopted by a national body like the SQA is real endorsement, and will prove a great shop window to demonstrate to a worldwide market the productivity improvements these two programmes can deliver.”